Argentina captain and the subject running through every case file. Two separate legal matters touch him and must never be combined: his personal Spanish image-rights tax case (convicted 2007–2009 IRPF offences, upheld 2017, no custody served, prosecutor sought acquittal) and the Negreira matter, in which he has never been charged and to which no evidence in the record connects him.
Roles
Player, FC Barcelona — from 2000 to 2021
Player, Paris Saint-Germain — from 2021 to 2023
Player, Inter Miami CF — from 2023
Captain, Argentina national team
Legal and procedural status
Legal status: Convicted · Spain · 2017-05-24
Personal Spanish tax case only: convicted in 2016 of three IRPF offences (2007–2009); the Tribunal Supremo upheld it in 2017. No custody was served (the term was substituted for a fine) and the public prosecutor had sought his acquittal. This matter is entirely separate from, and unrelated to, the Negreira case.
Legal status: Not charged · Spain
Negreira matter: Messi has never been charged and no evidence in the record connects him to it. He is not a subject of the proceedings; proximity to Barcelona is not evidence of involvement (§26.2). Recorded separately from his tax case above.
Worldwide image rights ceded to Sport Consultants Ltd. (Belize), 2005 — Sport Consultants Ltd.
contract · Documentary · from 2005-03-03
Lionel Messi — sole shareholder of Jenbril S.A. (Uruguay) from 2007 — Jenbril S.A.
ownership · Documentary · from 2007
Sources
Independent sources:
7
Total references:
8
Repetition only:
1
Court or judicial record
Sentencia of the Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona, Sección 8ª, 5 July 2016
Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona, Sección 8ª · 2016-07-05
InaccessibleLanguage: esIndependent source
Supports
dc6842ac-8b55-54c7-98bf-479d1de597bd
22f79e81-fdaa-5290-89a8-4be98f3fed46
Full text available only via the court registry/database (CENDOJ); not primary-retrieved. The verbatim reasoning quoted here is held via the Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación (Argentina) Oficina de Referencia Extranjera institutional summary — recorded separately as src-csjn-sentencia-ap-2016. Phase 5 BCN-004 records the full CENDOJ text of the AP judgment under Unknowns as "NOT FOUND (loaded)".
Court or judicial record
STS 374/2017 — official CENDOJ full text (Roj STS 1885/2017)
Tribunal Supremo, Sala Segunda · 2017-05-24
InaccessibleLanguage: esIndependent source
Supports
dc6842ac-8b55-54c7-98bf-479d1de597bd
2fc17f66-1162-5b55-a3e6-a52965bce12c
Access-restricted; content confirmed via the CGPJ press release and the vLex/Iberley records (https://vlex.es/vid/680034429). The verbatim ratio remains unretrieved.
Court or judicial record
La Audiencia de Barcelona desestima el delito de cohecho en el caso Negreira (auto ECLI:ES:APB:2024:1372A + CGPJ press note)
Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona, Sección 21ª (via CGPJ) · 2024-05-23
RetrievedLanguage: esIndependent source
no… funciones… ejercidas por delegación… no podría atribuírsele la condición de funcionario público
Translationnot functions exercised by delegation… he could not be attributed the status of public official[Claude translation]
Supports
f3f6564f-1089-5eef-a57e-0e0f62f28463
dc2dbb95-0a0d-594d-ace2-a3b844ba7ec3
Also the source of the "entre 1993 a 2018" tenure formulation that conflicts with the consensus 1994 start.
Court or judicial record
El Tribunal Supremo confirma la condena de 21 meses de prisión al futbolista Leo Messi por delito fiscal
Tribunal Supremo, Sala Segunda / CGPJ Oficina de Comunicación · 2017-05-24
RetrievedLanguage: esIndependent source
No resulta acomodado a lógica admitir que quien percibe importantes ingresos ignore el deber de tributar por ellos
TranslationIt is not logical to accept that someone who receives large income is unaware of the duty to pay tax on it[Claude translation]
Supports
dc6842ac-8b55-54c7-98bf-479d1de597bd
2fc17f66-1162-5b55-a3e6-a52965bce12c
STS 374/2017, recurso de casación 1729/2016, Roj STS 1885/2017.
Prosecutor or government record
Fiscalía denuncia — corrupción entre particulares en el ámbito deportivo, administración desleal, falsedad en documento mercantil
Fiscalía Provincial de Barcelona / Fiscalía Anticorrupción · 2023-03-10
InaccessibleLanguage: esIndependent source
Supports
bde1281d-7f9b-5953-b731-f98fdff9ef78
f7f25bbc-7278-57c1-bf2e-a0631fd9c714
cac2841e-a749-5d8a-87e7-8178efea8782
Not indexed/online; only fragments reproduced by El País, Libertad Digital and Maldita.es. The full querella text was never retrieved.
Prosecutor or government record
Fiscalía querella against Lionel Messi and Jorge Horacio Messi
Fiscalía de Delitos Económicos de Barcelona · 2013-06
InaccessibleLanguage: esIndependent source
Supports
dc6842ac-8b55-54c7-98bf-479d1de597bd
22725230-a2fa-514b-8ac7-f8039a492b4c
Quoted, not primary-retrieved; the image-rights entity names derive from it. Messi's personal tax case — firewalled from the Negreira matter.
Secondary reporting
Lionel Messi net worth, salary, contract, sponsors and charity
Goal.com
RetrievedLanguage: enIndependent source
Supports
18eead9b-7dc2-50ba-a839-e2090e5b1b00
Reported values for the adidas lifetime deal are estimates; adidas has published no terms.
Secondary reporting
How Nike lost Messi to adidas over a dumb oversight and a few hundred dollars' worth of tracksuits
The18
RetrievedLanguage: enRepetition of an originating source
Supports
ace9e47d-dc10-5a5c-8135-515fc0cb9c2b
b04ec1b3-670c-54b6-97dd-d5cbe442f4d3
Retells the Clegg & Robinson account; repetition-only for the tracksuit anecdote.
Explicit limitations
Does the clinical record establish the actual cost and injection count?
Can the full text of the 2001 RSTP be retrieved?
Does any primary RFEF or Federacio Catalana registration document for 15 February 2002 exist?
Can the verbatim RFEF, LFP, CSD and CEDD decision texts of 2005-06 be independently retrieved?
The court, case number and exact ruling text (NOT FOUND in primary form).
Unresolved cross-phase conflict: the Clegg & Robinson book is dated 2022 by Phase 1 and 2023 by Phase 5.
Whether any non-public documentation exists linking commercial partners to voting.
Exact add-on trigger structure.
Exact contract value (the research record records the value as UNKNOWN).
What precisely triggered the Agencia Tributaria referral?
How was the exact quantum negotiated with the Agencia Tributaria?
The precise fixed-vs-variable structure.
Exact original Spanish wording (NOT FOUND verbatim this session).
NOT FOUND — the internal reasoning for the Fiscalía's split from the Abogacía.
Whether Messi had told his father before the match; Messi himself later said he did not clearly recall.
Exact wording and timing of the call; whether a call occurred at all versus only the public appeal.
NOT FOUND (loaded) — full CENDOJ text of the AP judgment (retrieved only via institutional summaries).
Exact contract figures.
Who paid for/accompanied the trip beyond AFA arrangement — not established in retrieved sources (UNKNOWN).
Precise day (10 vs 11 Aug) varies slightly by outlet.
Actual contract value.
NOT FOUND (loaded) — the official full-text PDF was access-restricted; text confirmed via poderjudicial.es press release and vLex/Iberley (Roj STS 1885/2017).
Exact date of the substitution order.
Total value actually paid including bonuses.
Which specific incident Zambrano referred to in 2024. The record does NOT establish this; ambiguity preserved and NOT resolved.
Whether CONMEBOL published a formal written prescription ruling (only the AFA-relayed confirmation located this session).
No public record of a CAS filing by Messi/AFA located this session.
Outcome of the announced legal actions.
Final judicial disposition of the I3 Ventures case.
Exact allocation across shirt vs naming rights.
Ultimate net realizable value over the 25-year term.
Unresolved conflict: the club's €667m figure vs La Liga's audited €517m.
Minute differs by source (9'/10').
Phase 8 Annex B, C-08: two Stage 1 documents contradict each other and Phase 6 on whether an on-field review occurred for this penalty; the conflict is NOT resolved.
Phase 6 record note for the TOURN-038 series, recorded here in its safe form: Messi was awarded five penalties in normal/extra time across the tournament (SAU, POL, NED, CRO, FRA), scoring four (Poland saved). Whether five awarded to one player in a single edition is a standalone World Cup record is UNRESOLVED — FIFA counts open-play/ET penalties separately from shoot-out kicks, and the single-edition "five awarded" claim was not resolved against a definitive FIFA record statement. The count of five is verified; the historical superlative is not and must not be stated as settled fact.
Minute varies (36'/38'/39').
Whether FIFA formally removed Lahoz for disciplinary reasons — no official FIFA source located; "sent home" traces to COPE/Tiempo de Juego (Spanish radio), relayed by CBS Sports, WION and others.
Whether FIFA's Art. 12/16 proceedings v AFA and Art. 12 v KNVB produced any published final fine — no publicly available record of a final decision was located this session.
EDITORIAL HOLD: the itemised Lusail card ledger is deliberately NOT reproduced in this record. Phase 8 Annex B, C-01 establishes that three documents claiming FIFA official sourcing produce three incompatible caution lists (differing on Lisandro Martínez, Otamendi, Cody Gakpo and Van Dijk's second yellow, and on six minute values). The conflict is unresolved and is carried as a separate Conflict record, not merged here.
Safe formulation on the card record: the match set a World Cup caution record, surpassing the 16 in Portugal v Netherlands (2006 R16); the widely reported "18 yellow cards and one red" is a media/GWR-reported tally, not a FIFA-stated reconciled figure. FIFA published no single reconciled total.
Official report does not narrate VAR-check detail; no OFR indicated.
The official FIFA report does not itemise the handball's minute or tie Messi's later caution to it.
Project records disagree between an approximately 55-minute account and a later-match account; neither timing is published as settled.
Minute differs (32'/34').
Phase 8 Annex B, C-06: Phase 6's "32'" has no support in Stage 1's reading of the FIFA shot log, which puts the attempt at 33' (team summary 34'). Both readings are preserved; the conflict is not resolved.
Minute differs (21'/22'/23').
Phase 8 Annex B, C-07 and §21.4: Phase 6 attributed the 22'/23' figures to Wikipedia, which both the Handoff and Phase 0 bar as evidence. Stage 1 carries the same figures from FIFA's own shot log (22') and team summary (23'), so the attribution is upgraded off Wikipedia onto a primary FIFA source; ESPN's 21' remains an unexplained outlier.
Full VAR-review log for each 2023 match not exhaustively retrieved this session.
Whether Leagues Cup opened any formal review of the 2023 R32 officiating — NOT FOUND.
Exact medical records NOT public.
Exact fine amount NOT disclosed; the specific Concacaf Disciplinary Code article NOT retrieved this session.
MLS's historical secondary-assist methodology not fully verified; ESPN/Opta independently cite 16 assists, so the figure appears to be primary assists.
EDITORIAL NOTE: Inter Miami EARNED the Supporters' Shield on the field. FIFA SEPARATELY SELECTED Inter Miami as host representative (see MIA-008 / the Club World Cup host-berth case file). These are two distinct propositions and are not to be merged into a causal claim; commercial motivation is a reasonable inference, not a documented official rationale.
Whether MLS conducted a non-public internal review — NOT FOUND (distinct from "no violation found").
Exact match-by-match 2025 bracket (Atlas/Necaxa/Pumas/Tigres/Orlando) not each independently re-verified via official pages this session.
Outcome of the complaint — NOT FOUND.
Exact live MLS standings on 2026-07-17 not pinned to an official table (a mid-May 2026 snapshot had Miami ~2nd in the East, Nashville leading); any reported dollar valuation of the Nubank deal is unofficial.
A SEPARATE 2026 referee-area incident (Messi reportedly cleared, the door "did not lead to the officials' dressing room") is distinct from MIA-032; teammate Ian Fray was reportedly fined for 2026 referee criticism. These 2026 discipline items are DEVELOPING and not fully verified against official MLS pages this session.
Final v Spain (2026-07-19, MetLife) is unplayed — outcome UNKNOWN. No outcome is predicted.